The following is from Yoshiko Sakurai's regular column titled "Discuss Nuclear Possession," which appeared on April 4.
This article also proves that she is a national treasure, a supreme national treasure defined by Saicho.
It is a must-read not only for the people of Japan but for people all over the world.
In particular, politicians who make their living from the taxpayers' money and people who make their living from the media must drink from the scruff of her feet.
The emphasis in the text is mine, except for the headline.
Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has made two things clear.
(1) An unexpected situation in which a nuclear superpower threatens a small, nuclear-free nation with nuclear weapons has occurred, and (2) The U.S. has bowed to Russia's nuclear threats and avoided military intervention.
Katsutoshi Kono, former chief of staff, said this at the National Institute for Basic National Security Studies, summing up the case as the first time that the U.S. did not hold back a nuclear threat and undermined confidence in U.S. nuclear deterrence of expansion.
The war of aggression in Ukraine has revealed the deformity of the direct aggressor, Russia, and its sympathizer, China, which on February 4 issued a joint statement calling for "unlimited" friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
Later, it was reported that both countries had agreed to Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
On March 2, the New York Times reported that China had asked Russia not to invade until after the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The Times reported on March 2 that China had launched a large-scale cyber attack on Ukraine's defense-related institutions, banks, railroads, and nuclear-related organizations on February 20, just before the Russian invasion began.
Concurrently, Chinese President Xi Jinping has imported new natural gas from Russia, removed restrictions on wheat imports, provided Russia with a yuan payment system after being excluded from the international payment network, and has not condemned Russia.
The relationship between China and Russia is so close that it could be mistaken for an alliance. Instead, the U.S. is being forced to engage in a two-sided strategy toward China and Russia.
And it is Japan that receives the threat of China and Russia in the most severe form.
The basis for dealing with the biggest crisis of the postwar era is a substantial increase in the defense budget.
On March 28, U.S. President Joe Biden released his budget for 2023 (October 2010 to September 2011).
Although there is an excellent possibility that the budget will be revised in the future since Congress has the authority to formulate and decide on the budget in the U.S., Biden's presentation is not sufficient.
The budget document shows that defense spending will increase by 4% over FY2022 to $813.3 billion, which is a 1.5% increase in the budget that boosts economic output.
Before releasing the budget statement, the Pentagon's first National Defense Strategy (NDS) of the Biden administration identified China as its "most important strategic competitor.
To deal with the Chinese military, the U.S. Navy will need to dramatically increase its naval fleet from the current 298-ship fleet to a 500-ship fleet, but Biden Under the proposal, it would build only nine new ships.
The Air Force has reduced its request for 48 F-35s to 33.
Biden, who has made climate change a top priority, will use the money to create a "Civilian Climate Corps" that will surpass the Marine Corps.
However, Japan is in no position to speak for the United States.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has not produced any results on the significant increase in defense spending necessary to "further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance" that former Prime Minister Yoshihide Kan and Biden agreed to at their Japan-U.S. summit meeting last April.
China is eager to increase its defense budget.
In 2022, its defense spending will exceed its economic growth target of "around 5.5%" by 7.1% from the previous year to more than 26 trillion yen, nearly five times the amount spent in Japan.
On March 7, President Xi Jinping bellowed, "Stick to the Party's strong military idea," and "All the military should focus on fighting efforts."
Like Russia, the People's Liberation Army does not rule out the first use of nuclear weapons.
Russian Ambassador to Japan Garuzin stressed that Russia had made no secret of its position on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Ukraine. On that basis, it has decided to launch a "special military operation.
He sounded as if he was asking what was wrong.
Indeed, last July, President Putin published an article justifying the "conquest" of Ukraine.
He selfishly claimed that Ukrainians and Russians are "one people," that Ukraine was taken from them when the Soviet Union collapsed, and Russia has the right to take it back.
Even hearing this, the West had no idea that the 21st century would suddenly see the barbarism of a military invasion of an independent, sovereign country.
Except for China, the nations thought that there was no way that the Permanent Member of the Jindyokan Council, the country responsible for maintaining world order, would threaten a small country without nuclear weapons with nuclear weapons.
But Mr. Putin was serious.
The lesson is that we must believe a dictator's word, take it and prepare a countermeasure.
Like Mr. Putin, Mr. Xi has made it clear that the unification of Taiwan is a historic mission of the Chinese Communist Party and that the use of force is a possibility.
Putin's invasion of Ukraine overlaps with Xi's invasion of Taiwan.
It is also an invasion of the Senkaku Islands (Ishigaki, Okinawa), Okinawa Prefecture, and Japan.
We do not know when or how China will attack Taiwan, but we do know that there are at least two despotic dictators around Japan who ignore international law and would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons.
Germany has woken up to the crisis in Ukraine and has transformed itself into a country unlike any other.
It has changed its stance of avoiding military affairs and has suddenly returned to being a normal country. It has begun to push forward with the building of military power.
Only Japan continues to cower in the dark.
Why is it necessary to review the defense budget, our defense system, and the nation?
It is time for the government and all of us to come up with a clear answer.
A nuclear superpower that threatens us with nuclear weapons has emerged.
Not just Russia but China and North Korea as well.
In addition, advances in precision-guided weapons have made military attacks more precise, and low-power nuclear weapons have been developed, making nuclear weapons "usable."
It has created the danger that an inferior country could use nuclear weapons in terms of conventional forces.
Conventional forces are powerless against nuclear weapons, the only way to counter nuclear weapons is through nuclear deterrence.
In the past, Europe possessed an equal number of intermediate-range nuclear missiles in response to the Soviet Union's intermediate-range nuclear missiles. It then negotiated the total abolition of these missiles.
The "nuclear deterrence against nuclear weapons" and the "balance of military power" worked.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says that the three non-nuclear principles are national policy, saying, "As the only country to have experienced war, it should never break Japan's position of contributing to world peace and the three non-nuclear principles.
It is a well-meaning suspension of thought.
It is good intentions, but it is an abdication of the responsibility to protect the land and the people.
Politicians should take the initiative in thinking deeply about the possession of nuclear weapons as a deterrent and discuss it extensively.
Do not stop at discussion, but have the will to reach a conclusion that will serve as the foundation of the nation of Japan.
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